Simple Words
by Higuchimon
Summary: [one-shot, Digimon Pairings Challenge, Round 1, Patamon x Tailmon/Tailmon x Patamon] A little time under the stars and with each other is all that Patamon and Tailmon need. It's really quite simple.


_**Legal Disclaimer:** I do not own Digimon. The characters here are all the property of Toei Entertainment. This is done only for entertainment.  
**Title:** Simple Words  
**Pairing:** Patamon/Tailmon  
**Notes:** This was written for the Digimon Pairings Challenge._

Tailmon purred softly as a warm breeze caressed her fur. It was a pleasant evening in the Digital World, as most of them tended to be. There were times when it rained or snowed or something dangerous fell out of the sky, just like on Earth, but at the moment, nothing of that nature was happening. What would have made it even more pleasant would have been if Hikari could be here to share it with her. Unfortunately, that wasn't to be at the moment. Her partner, as well as Daisuke and Takeru, was on a class trip of some kind that would take them away for several days. That meant she, Patamon, and V-mon were by themselves until they got back. 

It wasn't all that bad, really, she knew. Staying in the Digital World was better than being on Earth, letting all of their energy drain out of them. With how peaceful things had been in the last few months, since the defeat of BelialVamdemon, they could afford to be away from their partners for a short time as well. If anything happened, she was confidant that the rest of the group would be able to handle it without them. Should it turn out that they couldn't, she knew that they'd come get them as quickly as they could. 

Vacations, Tailmon decided, were things to be enjoyed. So she was going to enjoy this one. 

She turned over again and stretched. It felt good to be able to just relax as much as she wanted to. Since that cold December day when they'd seen the last of her former master blowing away in the breeze, she hadn't had a single nightmare concerning him. Instead, her dreams had begun to feature someone else entirely. 

_Maybe now I can say something to him?_ It wasn't out of the question. They'd known each other for three years, and been friends for virtually all of that time as well. Even if he didn't care about her like she thought she cared about him, he wouldn't be mean about a refusal. She was convinced that Patamon didn't have a single byte of meanness in his entire body, no matter what stage he happened to be at. 

If there was a problem, it was deciding just when and how to say something. Now was a good time, in general, these few days when they didn't have anything to do but eat, sleep, and have fun in whatever ways they could think up. But a single specific moment hadn't yet occurred where she just _knew_ it would be the right time to talk to him about it. 

Maybe she should have tried earlier, when they had been hanging out at the waterfall. She hadn't splashed around like V-mon and Patamon had. They _liked_ making as big of a splash as they possibly could. She'd sat in a tree far enough away so she wouldn't have to worry about getting wet and watched them have their fun. 

She didn't know where either V-mon or Patamon were at the moment. V-mon had wandered off after they'd gotten bored with swimming and splashing, saying something about trying to find something else to do. Patamon had went off in another direction, but he hadn't made any kind of a mention about what _he_ had in mind. And she had wandered out here to where she had a good view of most of the surrounding territory. She liked being where she could see everything around herself. It made her feel more comfortable. No one could sneak up on her like this. 

Being here also helped her to think a little more clearly, or so she liked to tell herself. It was true, to an extent. Being in Hikari's room was warm and comfortable, a vast difference from many other places she'd been in. But there was always something else to do there, even if it were just helping Hikari with her homework, in the form of moral support, or watching whatever inanity the humans had come up with next on the television, or chatting with Agumon and whoever else happened to be there at the moment. It was much the same way whenever Hikari was in school. Here, everything was quiet and peaceful, and she could keep her focus on what _she_ wanted it to be on. 

Which at the moment, happened to be deciding just what she wanted to tell Patamon, and when she wanted to do it. 

"Tailmon! Hey, Tailmon!" She looked around quickly, glad of her vantage point, since it allowed her to find who was calling her in moments. Patamon flapped towards her, his usual cheery smile present. At this distance, she couldn't quite be certain, but it almost looked as if the smile was a touch different, now that she thought about it some. Was it warmer somehow? Maybe. But why would it be? She couldn't think of any reason that made sense. 

Still, he was there, and she was there, so maybe that was all the reason either of them needed to feel just a little happier. 

"Hey, Patamon." She nodded at him pleasantly as he flapped up and settled down beside her. "Nice evening, isn't it?" Small talk had never really been her forte, but she was willing to try almost anything once. 

"Yeah. This is a really good spot, too," he agreed. "You can see so much from here." 

"That's why I picked it," Tailmon told him, swishing her tail a little through the pale blue grass. "I like being able to see everything." 

He nodded. "I've noticed that." He tucked his feet up under himself and turned towards her. "Did you have anything planned for tonight?" 

That wasn't really what she'd expected to hear from him, but she thought about the question. "Not really. Just finding a place to stay and getting some sleep." 

"The moons are going to be up late tonight. Should be a really good night to watch the stars or something." He sounded a little hesitant, unsure of how she would take what he was saying. She wasn't even certain _how_ to take it, either. Again, it wasn't something that was very much like him. 

But it was true, as well. She'd never thought about watching them very much. There had always been other things to do. "Would you like to do that? I mean, with me?" That wasn't as gracefully put as she would have liked, but at least the words had been said. Steps had been taken. 

He turned a pale shade of red, and Tailmon tried hard not to laugh at the expression on his face. Maybe that hadn't quite been the answer he'd expected, either. "Um. Yeah, sure. I mean, I was kind of asking anyway, but..." He ducked his head the best he could, and she stifled another laugh. She had never known him to be shy, but there was always a first time for everything. 

They settled down a little more comfortably beside one another, staying quiet. Tailmon couldn't think of anything that she really wanted to say, and she had a feeling Patamon was still overcome by her agreement to talk that much. The silence wasn't really uncomfortable, but it was _making_ Tailmon a little nervous. _I have to say something._ She'd never liked talking for talking's sake, but once wouldn't hurt. She hoped. 

"We should try to get our partners here to watch the stars one night," she said at last. "Hikari would love it, I bet." 

"I heard Daisuke and Takeru talking about that once," Patamon offered, as eager as she was to have something to discuss that wasn't exactly them, she felt. "Daisuke said she knew all kinds of constellations and stuff." 

"She does," Tailmon agreed, remembering some of the books she'd seen her partner looking at. "She likes things like this. That's why I suggested it." Hikari had a lot of interests, and studying stars was just one of them. Tailmon wasn't sure what would come of it, if anything, but Hikari had assured her it was okay to study things just for the fun of it. Maybe she'd see if Hikari's parents would get her a telescope. Hikari had mentioned something about wanting one for her birthday. 

Patamon flipped an ear back. "Takeru didn't know that. Daisuke was telling him about the last time we all stayed the night here, and he and Hikari were up late talking with each other. Seems that's when he found out." 

Tailmon remembered that. They'd really seemed to get along that night, better than they usually did. Hikari hadn't said anything about it to her, but she didn't really need to. 

Slowly the sky grew darker, and with each passing moment, more and more stars began to twinkle overhead. Tailmon watched them, vaguely recalling seeing Wizarmon do this a few times. She had remembered almost all of her past that she'd buried in an attempt to save her life and sanity, but there were still a few blank spots here and there. She suspected they had something more to do with terrors Vamdemon had inflicted on her more than anything else, and did her best not to think about them very much. 

_I hope I'll see you again someday, old friend,_ she thought, directing her wish somewhere up to the stars. Digimon didn't have the same kind of beliefs about what happened when someone died that humans did. Since almost all of them came back via the Village of Beginnings, there was no way that they could. Still, she had seen Wizarmon's ghost, and she wondered every now and then if there was a way he could come back. With the gates open permanently now, she wanted to believe he had found his way back. 

Patamon nudged over to her a little. "Look there! That's an arrow, isn't it?" She looked to where he appeared to be motioning, and nodded. 

"You're right, it is!" Indeed, a few stars had appeared in the formation of an arrow, a long shaft and a graceful point. It reminded her of the arrow she'd shot into Vamdemon so long ago. Coming so soon on the heels of her thoughts of Wizarmon, she hoped that was some kind of a good sign, if such a thing existed. 

There were even more stars visible now, and she looked around to try to find a constellation of her own. "Doesn't that look a little like a square of some kind?" She indicated another set and peered at it as closely as she could. That reminded her of something else. "It almost looks like one Hikari showed me in a book of constellations on Earth. They called it Pegasus." 

Pegasus. Like Pegasumon. A smile warmed her heart at the thought. Patamon's Digimental of Hope evolution was every bit as attractive to her as he was as Angemon or Holy Angemon or Patamon himself. Who she cared about was him, not what body he happened to be wearing at the moment. For Digimon, bodies were a lot like clothes were for humans, something that could be changed when necessary. Sure, they weren't always able to choose what they put on, but the principle was roughly the same. 

"Yeah, I remember seeing that one once," Patamon agreed. "I always liked it, especially after Takeru got the Digimental." He shifted around a little to get a better view of the sky. The spot Tailmon had chosen had an impressive view, not just of all the ground, but of the sky as well. That was one of the advantages of it being on the top of a medium high hill in the center of a wide, grassy plain. 

He pointed to another set of stars with a twitch of his ears. "Is it just me or does that one look kind of like a cat?" 

Once she saw which one he was looking at, Tailmon was glad of the darkness. It concealed her blush quite well. "I don't know for sure. Look at that one over there. It looks kind of like a brush of some kind, I think." She didn't really want to keep finding the ones that reminded her of him, or of herself. It would really be too strange if they did. The stars did not arrange themselves for their complete pleasure and convenience, after all. 

Time trickled by, and after a while, pointing out starshapes became just a little tiring. There were only so many ways that they could be thought of, after all, and they'd already put in a long day. Tailmon yawned a little, and wondered if it would be possible to take a rest right here. She hadn't smelled any kind of Digimon in the area other than the two of them, which spoke well for it's safety as a sleeping area. Most Digimon preferred something a little more defensible, but she was certain they could handle things if need be. 

"Tailmon?" At the soft uttering of her name, she turned to look at Patamon. He hadn't said anything for a while, and she'd wondered if he'd went on and fallen asleep without her. There was something in front of him, and she was surprised to see it was a single plucked flower. He nudged it over to her with one small paw. "It's for you. I picked it for you." 

She blinked a few times, not certain of what he meant. "You did what?" 

"I picked it for you," he said, the pale blush returning and deepening even more until he was more red than orange. "I like you, Tailmon, I really like you." If he'd blushed any harder, she was convinced he would have passed out. 

Slowly, she reached over to take the flower and sniffed it lightly. She didn't know much about flowers, but she did know what he'd said, he'd meant. "I like you, too, Patamon," she told him softly. "I really, _really_ like you." Daring, she reached over and brushed her lips across his in a brief kiss. She wasn't sure of anything else at the moment, but she was convinced this was the right thing to do. 

Patamon must have felt the same way, because he gently began to return it. It wasn't a very good kiss. Neither of them had any real experience with doing it. She wasn't at all certain of what to do with her tongue or lips, nor did he have any idea of what to do with his. But they made it work, somehow. 

Once it was over, they didn't move very far apart from each other. There was no need. They simply curled up beside one another and rested. Everything that needed to be said had been said. In the end, despite her worries and concerns, it had all been very simple. 

**The End**


End file.
